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Both series are available in TPB and Omnibus editions, the later of which are very good value for money.

There is also the classic newspaper strips by Archie Goodwin and Al Williamson that were printed from 81 -84 and are VERY good. These have been collected in:
Classic Star Wars Volume 1: In Deadly Pursuit
Classic Star Wars Volume 2: The Rebel Storm
Classic Star Wars Volume 3: Escape to Hoth

And a classic adventure series set between Episodes IV and V called "Rebels." The first one will be told from Leia's point of view and written by Martha Wells, an author who is new to the Expanded Universe. The second one will be written by another new EU author, Kevin Hearne, and told from Luke's point of view.

This is something I have been wanting a long long time. Why the hell was there no POV stories from Leia. HELLO!!???!!!! Look what she accomplished.

Depending on the reviews I might pick this up. However if its going to be one chapter of Leia and then 5 chapters of someone else I wont care.

I also wanted to see some solo titles with like Aayla Secura etc. And those jedi. Seems its fine to have em in the movies but they can't get their own books and its purely male characters safe for Mara Jade which hello Mary Sue.

I said a few posts back I was planning on talking the first few Fate of the Jedi books on holiday with me well when I was looking back at the released books I realized I'd not actually read the Darth Bane or Coruscant Nights trilogy yet, so I decided to take the Darth Bane trilogy away with me instead. All I can say is WOW! These three books totally blew me away with how good they were, I really wasn't expecting them to be this good or I would have read them years ago. I'd loved to see the series continue telling the story of the Sith, pick up were Dynasty of Evil left off with Set Harth, Darth Zannah and Darth Cognus and even continuing further with Darth Millennial and beyond.
I also took the audio drama of Nightlily: The Lovers' Tale to listen to on holiday, now I've had this on tape (now MP3) since the late 90's and have listen to it dozens of time yet this was the first time I realized the main character, Feltipern Trevagg, voice is done by our own Alan Oppenheimer. Can't believe I've never noticed it before

Next I'm going to read Crimson Empire III which I go the other week when it was release. After that I think I'll finally go onto the FotJ book. Think leave Coruscant Nights until The Last Jedi so i can read all four of them together.

Del Rey just announced new SW books at NYCC:
-New Han Solo classic era novel written by James S. A. Correy. Part of the new "Rebels" series of stand alone novels set in the Classic era.
-New novel by John Jackson Miller tentatively titled KENOBI. Novel is set after the events of Episode III.
-3rd Essential Character Guide written by Dan Wallace.

I was a little disappointed with Crimson Empire III, I thought Luke was very off character in it, but I've started the first Fate of the Jedi novel Outcast now and I'm really enjoying it so far.

Today I also got the TPB's of Knights of the Old Republic Vol 10: War, Dark Times Vol 5: Out of the Wilderness and Agent of the Empire Vol1: Iron Eclipse. I can't believe they released three TPB on the same day

As reported in an exclusive story by ComicBookResources.com, the fan favorite, Legacy comic, will be returning in 2013, possibly in March. Unfortunately Ostrander and Duursema will not be returning as they are currently committed to Dawn of the Jedi. Look forward, instead to Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman with a cover by Dave Wilkins. More details as they emerge!

Great news, one of my favourite series but a shame Ostrander and Duursema will not be returning. I don't recognise any of the characters on the cover, makes me wonder if it might be set before the first Legacy series.

--updated---

More information announced on the new Legacy series, its called Legacy: Prisoner of the Floating World. I said above I didn't recognise any of the characters on the cover, well one of them is a new character called

Ania Solo, Han and Leia’s great-great granddaughter. Which is very interesting, see must descended from Jacen Solo as any of Jaina's children would have taken the Fel name. But I assumed Jacen's daughter Allana would have taken her mothers name Djo so looks like I was wrong about that. Also interesting that she not a Jedi.

Also announced is a new Omnibus called Wild Space #1, collection of rare and previously uncollected comics, I'm really looking forward to this one even though a lot of them are from the UK comics which I've got but most haven't been published in the US before.

Finally got around to reading issue 2 at the weekend, really enjoyed.
That scene where the Princess is saying she wont leave without her cases, that scene cracked me up, it has got to be a nod to Spaceballs!

Have you also seen they've just announced an #0 to be released in January.

Star Wars author Aaron Allston has passed away.

Veteran Star Wars author Aaron Allston has passed away.
Very sad news. A great contributor and driving force behind the EU.
He was on the ForceCast in Oct and talked about another Wraith Squadron book he had in mind and his hopes the EU would continue as a separate canon to the new movies.

That's a bummer to hear. And it should also be noted that Disney has put a halt to the old EU while they're figuring out where they want to take Episode 7+. I was talking to a Sideshow Collectibles employee, and all of their planned releases for EU characters have been stopped. They couldn't go into detail other than saying that Disney is trying to figure out Episode 7, but the idea is that maybe Dark Horse and other companies own certain characters in the EU, and Disney just simply doesn't want to pay anyone dividends for a franchise they own anyways (remember, Disney is moving Star Wars over to Marvel comics and more than likely certain characters won't be coming with it).

Hooray for neo-nazi Disney and their selfish ways of never releasing certain things taht won't give them 100% profits /sarcasm

Well I'll be more than a little upset with them if they drop characters like Asajj Ventress.

I don't know what to expect for post-RotJ characters though. I like Mara Jade and Admiral Thrawn and the Solo children, and I have enough investment in them that I don't welcome just inventing new characters to replace them (new wife for Luke, different kids for Leia and Han, etc). I mean maybe Dooku replacing C'Boath makes sense, but after all this time I sure don't want Mara Jade to no longer exist. Bad enough they killed her! I've always expected some trouble with post-RotJ EU once an episode 7 came up, but the idea that they don't own those characters and will drop them instead of clearing things up just annoys the hell out of me.

Originally Posted by 13977

Anybody read the new 'The Star Wars' comics series based on George Lucas's original draft of Star Wars from 1974?

I've been reading it and find it very interesting. I especially find it fascinating how much like the prequels it really is with all the impersonal exposition and only the slightest attention to pathos. Whoever suggested starting with the droids and then focusing on farm boy Luke staring off to the sunset with a dream of greater things really did save the day. Oddly enough even without the flaws, this story is actually still better IMO than The Phantom Menace. I would have much preferred this series' Anakin and how he's introduced over what Lucas did with the prequels. Even the villains Darth Vader and Prince Valorum, though they're weaker than the movies' Vader, are better than the Trade Federation by miles. I especially love that the Emperor in this is styled to look like Ming the Merciless. Unfortunately the romance here is as badly rendered as in the prequels--maybe even worse. "I love you." "Not now." "What? Well then I hate you!" It's like it turned into a spoof for that beat.

Well I'll be more than a little upset with them if they drop characters like Asajj Ventress.

I would assume anyone who appeared in the Clone Wars series will be fine - that's still going to be canon, isn't it?

I have to admit, I'm so used to the idea of characters like Mara Jade, Thrawn, Pellaeon, etc, that I do find it a little disconcerting to think they might get thrown out with the bathwater.

I've said it before - I love Lucas as a conceptualist storyteller - the movies are visually stunning and remarkable feats of imagination, including the prequels. But as a writer, or director, especially of character and dialogue, he's dreadful. (I'm trying to draw a distinction between the 'story' and the 'script'.) There have been so many other great additions that came from other places that enriched the SW world. It'd be a pity to lose them all.

I don't know what to expect for post-RotJ characters though. I like Mara Jade and Admiral Thrawn and the Solo children, and I have enough investment in them that I don't welcome just inventing new characters to replace them (new wife for Luke, different kids for Leia and Han, etc). I mean maybe Dooku replacing C'Boath makes sense, but after all this time I sure don't want Mara Jade to no longer exist. Bad enough they killed her! I've always expected some trouble with post-RotJ EU once an episode 7 came up, but the idea that they don't own those characters and will drop them instead of clearing things up just annoys the hell out of me.

Be honest if they cancel the exiting EU altogether I'll not follow a new EU.
I started reading the EU in 1994 when I was 12 or 13 so in many ways I’ve grown up with the EU characters. I consider the EU to be Star Wars as much as the movies are, and TBH if I had to choose one between getting new movies or continuing the current EU I’d choose the EU. I like many fans want to see the EU story continue, we want to see The Sword of the Jedi trilogy released, we want to see how story eventually gets to the events of the Legacy comics, were not ready for this story to end after investing so many years in it.

All they need to do is give us two separate canons. The original EU canon which will continue the current EU story and then (for lack of a better term) the new Disney canon which will be based around the new movies. Other companies like Marvel do this and manage several canons/universes at the same time and I think this would be the best option and would enable them to take advantage of both markets. But if they are going to cancel the existing EU in favor of rebooting it to fit in with the new films, I hope they release the Sword of the Jedi trilogy to give a proper ending to the existing EU, as the FOTJ series left us with a huge unresolved story thread in that The Lost Tribe of the Sith are still at large in the Galaxy. And judging from the art for Sword of the Jedi it appears this trilogy was going to deal with this. The Lost Tribe of the Sith defeated, Fel become Emperor and establishment of the Imperial Knights are the main things I think we need to see in a wrap up story.

Interesting, considering that the latest Star Wars novel "Maul: Lockdown" clearly has a Yuuzhan Vong and Noghri characters in it. I haven't gotten far into it, but EU is clearly present.

You gotta remember, there are limits on certain releases already in production that Disney can't stop in some cases. Like Disney ending the Clone Wars tv show was easy because scripts and animation were being worked on by a company they already owned (LucasFilms). But something like a novel that's being released by a third party and that has contracts for release aren't so easy, especially when it was finished writing and was being printed out for sale in book format a bit before the Lucas/Disney sale went through. There was nothing Disney could do even if they wanted to.

Now, something like toys and statues which are being designed and molded for approval before they could be released anyways are easily put on hold and/or cancelled because that's what the approval process is meant to do. Disney wants to get their ducks in a row for Star Wars, and I bet they're more interested in finding out what they own, what they can own, and what they can change for the sake of sole ownership (like changing the look of Mara Jade from a white female redhead to a look more rooted in dreadlocks and dark skin if that'll somehow let them gain more profits from the character).

As far as I know, Sideshow revealed a prototype statue for Savage Oppress and had revealed plans for a Mara Jade as well, but both are on hiatus as both are Expanded Universe characters. Savage was created by LucasFilm, so he'll probably be okay (but delayed for a long time) while Mara might be owned in part by Zhan or the book publisher who released the Zhan trilogy way back when. The Star Wars Black toy lines have stuck to releasing OT characters in future waves, and most all Toy Fair reveals have rid themselves of any EU characters.

So the real question when it comes to the novels is how the LucasBooks label under Del Ray/Ballantine Books (which most of the novels are published through) are affiliated with Lucasfilm's acquisition by Disney.

Some of the older books, however, like Zahn's Heir to the Empire might be a problem then, since they were published by Bantam Books. Then again, both Del Ray and Bantam fall under Random House so that may be nothing at all.

I can't imagine Disney investing $1bil for all of Star Wars and not at least offering a buy out for a lot of characters that Dark Horse and other companies own. Dark Horse might not blink an eye at a buyout if Disney tries to lowball them, being that they're a big enough money making company already. But maybe some other publishers (like Ray/Ballantine), who might own the rights to some characters, would gladly take whatever's offered.

Who knows? To me, Disney has always been a selfish company hellbent on world domination. Lucas himself might have been unwise when it came to his franchise, but at least he allowed people to create and promote characters that he had nothing to do with. I wonder how long it will be until Disney stops allowing fan movies and parody shorts in the name of being the "sole intellectual property holders"?

I can't imagine Disney investing $1bil for all of Star Wars and not at least offering a buy out for a lot of characters that Dark Horse and other companies own. Dark Horse might not blink an eye at a buyout if Disney tries to lowball them, being that they're a big enough money making company already. But maybe some other publishers (like Ray/Ballantine), who might own the rights to some characters, would gladly take whatever's offered.

Who knows? To me, Disney has always been a selfish company hellbent on world domination. Lucas himself might have been unwise when it came to his franchise, but at least he allowed people to create and promote characters that he had nothing to do with. I wonder how long it will be until Disney stops allowing fan movies and parody shorts in the name of being the "sole intellectual property holders"?

I don't know if Disney would be that stupid, part of the love that fans have gained for Star Wars is because of the ability to do those fan movies and parodies. I could see a serious fan backlash if Disney pulled a scummy move like that.

And as for LucasBooks, from what I read just a little bit ago, it did fall under the acquisition so all the EU characters probably fall under their purview now.

And as for LucasBooks, from what I read just a little bit ago, it did fall under the acquisition so all the EU characters probably fall under their purview now.

Well, a current popular character (Darth Talon) is owned by Darkhorse outright. So if Disney wants to claim her, they'd have to invest in some legal fenangling to do so. And the same can be said for other characters as well; just because they appeared in a novel at some point doesn't mean Lucasbooks owns them at all.

I just hope everyone can get along so that the EU characters that have kept Star Wars afloat for all these years won't simply be buried by the mouse...